Think of the night sky when you look up through the smog of the city. Then, think of that same sky on a clear night in a rural area.

That’s the difference between two images of a 90-year-old man’s brain, after he passed away and donated his body to Alzheimer’s disease research. Both scans are dark blue, with points of light showing plaques consistent with the disease. But the sharper image uses a new compound developed by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis.

“We really want to challenge our molecule for sensitivity. Can it detect what has been missed by the other agents?” said the study’s senior author, Vijay Sharma, PhD.

The imaging agent, called fluselenamyl, showed an improved clarity in PET scans of mice and human brain tissue by binding more effectively to the main components of amyloid plaques, a sign of Alzheimer's. The researchers are applying for federal approval to test low doses of the agent in humans.

Outside of clinical trials, Alzheimer’s disease is generally diagnosed by ruling out other potential causes of memory loss. By improving PET scans for patients experiencing symptoms, the scientists hope to avoid “false negative” tests, which could give a family unfounded hope, and to test new medications and therapies.

A slide shows three images of the same section of brain from a deceased patient who had Alzheimer's disease. On the right, the slide is imaged using existing PET tracers. In the middle, the slide is imaged using fluselemanyl. On the left is an image that cannot be made until the patient has passed away.

Credit provided by Vijay Sharma Lab

“With a more sensitive or better PET tracer, we could have the ability to detect the earlier stages of amyloid accumulation in the brain, and also a better tool to measure response to treatments,” said Dr. Paul Kotzbauer, a WashU neurologist and co-author of the paper.

Kotzbauer said the tracer’s application doesn’t stop at Alzheimer’s—buildups of amyloid plaques have been found in the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease as well.

According to the paper, fluselenamyl is about 2 to 10 times more effective than tracers currently approved by the FDA.

“To reach this level, I have no words for it,” said G.S.M Sundaram, PhD, the paper’s primary author.

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This segment originally aired on ​St. Louis on the Air on Sept. 8, 2016. It will be rebroadcast at 10 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2017.

Norris Roberts’ mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease nine years before she died. Over that time period, Roberts and his father tried to do everything right.

Every other week, they’d take her to the beauty shop she always went to so she could socialize. They bought her similar-styled clothes when the old ones no longer fit. They even kept up her tradition of Sunday night family dinners.

Most of us, at some point, will know someone who is struggling with a life-threatening illness. More than one in three U.S. residents are diagnosed with a form of cancer in their lifetime, and one in nine adults over the age of 65 are living with Alzheimer’s disease.

But when a close friend or loved one shares that they have a serious health issue, we’re often left not knowing what to do or what to say.

Earlier this summer, the Pew Research Center released a report that found nearly 19 percent of Americans over the age of 65, nearly 9 million people, were working full- or part-time. That percentage has steadily increased since 2000.